The manuscript has been thoroughly revised to reflect contemporary research, theory, and practice in health psychology. This best-selling book includes new coverage of specific topics such as behavior change strategies, health dissonance, exercise addiction, caffeine use, and men's health.

Organized into five sections, the book follows a continuous model of health, covering the theory and research related to the broad context of health, health beliefs and behaviors, and illness. The final section describes ways in which students can learn to think critically about all aspects of health psychology.

The new edition includes the following five new chapters:

• Health Dissonance – depicts the diversity of health based on gender, social class, and geography, and describes possible explanations.
• Health Promotion – describes a wide variety of theories and strategies used for behavior modification, including cognitive-behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, relapse prevention, coping with fear, and the use of technology.
• Access to Health – examines patients' interactions with healthcare professionals, focusing on help-seeking behavior (and delays in seeking help), screening, communication, and patient compliance.
• Men's Health – explores gender differences in life expectancy and causes of mortality, health-related behaviors of men, their health beliefs, social norms of masculinity, and emotional expression.
• Critical Thinking – offers a detailed analysis of how to think critically, focusing on reasoning regarding theory, concepts, methodology, and measurements.

There is an introduction to many brand-new examples covering: symptoms of post-traumatic stress, exercise and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, post-traumatic emotional adjustment and benefit finding, measuring issues for compliance, nutrition, exercise, social support, and coping with difficulties, visualization, and cognitive processes related to illness and response shifting.

The 5th edition of Health Psychology is essential reading for all students and researchers in the field of health psychology. It is also an invaluable resource for medical, nursing, and other paramedical students.

Jane Ogden is a Professor of Health Psychology at the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom. She is the author of five books and more than 130 articles in scientific journals.